Double-wall carbon nanotubes: The outer shell may pattern the structure of the inner one

An existing model [L. Bellarosa, E. Bakalis, M. Melle-Franco, F. Zerbetto, Nano Lett. 6 (2006) 1950] predicts that the structures of the seven double-wall carbon nanotubes, DWCNTs, identified by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy [L. Guan, K. Suenaga, S. Iijima, Nano Lett. 8 (2008) 459] are the most stable. Since the samples were obtained from single-wall carbon nanotubes, SWCNTs, filled with ferrocene molecules that were annealed at 1273 K for 24 h, it is concluded that under proper conditions the host SWCNT patterns the formation of the inner one to form the most stable pair.